German Masters (golf)

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Mercedes-Benz Championship
Tournament information
LocationPulheim, Germany
Established1987
Course(s)Golf Club Gut Lärchenhof
Par72
Length7,289 yards (6,665 m)
Tour(s)European Tour
FormatStroke play
Prize fund2,000,000
Month playedSeptember
Final year2009
Tournament record score
Aggregate262 K. J. Choi (2003)
To par−26 as above
Final champion
South Africa James Kingston
Location map
GC Gut Lärchenhof is located in Germany
GC Gut Lärchenhof
GC Gut Lärchenhof
Location in Germany
GC Gut Lärchenhof is located in North Rhine-Westphalia
GC Gut Lärchenhof
GC Gut Lärchenhof

The German Masters was a European Tour men's professional golf tournament played in Germany, and hosted and promoted by Germany's most successful golfer Bernhard Langer and his brother Erwin.

History

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Founded in 1987,[1] the tournament was originally played in Stuttgart, moving to Berlin in 1994. Since 1998, it has been held at Golf Club Gut Lärchenhof in Pulheim near Cologne. The prize fund had climbed to €3 million by 2005, making the German Masters one of the richer tournaments on the PGA European Tour at that time outside of the major championships and the three individual World Golf Championships.

After a one-year break in 2006, the tournament returned to the European Tour schedule in 2007, renamed as the Mercedes-Benz Championship. Played as a no-cut event, it had a maximum field of 78, consisting primarily of players who had either won tournaments on the European Tour in 2007 or were in the top 75 of the Official World Golf Rankings or in the top 60 of the European Order of Merit. It was played in mid-September, a slot created by the rescheduling of the HSBC World Match Play Championship to October. However, as it clashed with the PGA Tour's Tour Championship, many leading players were unavailable, and so the prize fund had dropped to €2 million on its return, one third less than it was in 2005.

Winners

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Year Winner Score To par Margin of
victory
Runner(s)-up
Mercedes-Benz Championship
2009 South Africa James Kingston 275 −13 Playoff Denmark Anders Hansen
2008 Sweden Robert Karlsson 275 −13 2 strokes Italy Francesco Molinari
2007 Denmark Søren Hansen 271 −17 4 strokes England Phillip Archer
Scotland Alastair Forsyth
Linde German Masters
2006: No tournament
2005 South Africa Retief Goosen 268 −20 1 stroke England Nick Dougherty
England David Lynn
Spain José María Olazábal
Sweden Henrik Stenson
2004 Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington 275 −13 3 strokes Australia Nick O'Hern
2003 South Korea K. J. Choi 262 −26 2 strokes Spain Miguel Ángel Jiménez
2002 Australia Stephen Leaney 266 −22 1 stroke Germany Alex Čejka
2001 Germany Bernhard Langer (4) 266 −22 1 stroke United States John Daly
Sweden Freddie Jacobson
2000 New Zealand Michael Campbell 197[a] −19 1 stroke Argentina José Cóceres
1999 Spain Sergio García 277 −11 Playoff Republic of Ireland Pádraig Harrington
Wales Ian Woosnam
1998 Scotland Colin Montgomerie 266 −22 1 stroke Sweden Robert Karlsson
Fiji Vijay Singh
1997 Germany Bernhard Langer (3) 267 −21 6 strokes Scotland Colin Montgomerie
1996 Northern Ireland Darren Clarke 264 −24 1 stroke England Mark Davis
Mercedes German Masters
1995 Sweden Anders Forsbrand 264 −24 2 strokes Germany Bernhard Langer
1994 Spain Seve Ballesteros 270 −18 Playoff South Africa Ernie Els
Spain José María Olazábal
1993 England Steven Richardson 271 −17 2 strokes Sweden Robert Karlsson
1992 England Barry Lane 272 −16 2 strokes Australia Rodger Davis
Germany Bernhard Langer
Wales Ian Woosnam
1991 Germany Bernhard Langer (2) 275 −13 Playoff Australia Rodger Davis
1990 Scotland Sam Torrance 272 −16 3 strokes Germany Bernhard Langer
Wales Ian Woosnam
German Masters
1989 West Germany Bernhard Langer 276 −12 1 stroke Spain José María Olazábal
United States Payne Stewart
1988 Spain José María Olazábal 279 −9 2 strokes Sweden Anders Forsbrand
Republic of Ireland Des Smyth
1987 Scotland Sandy Lyle 278 −10 Playoff West Germany Bernhard Langer

Notes

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  1. ^ Shortened to 54 holes due to weather.

References

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  1. ^ "German event lifts tour pool to record". The Times. London, England. 18 February 1987. p. 38. Retrieved 7 June 2020 – via The Times Digital Archive.
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